How we ended up with our current flag

In September 1964, created a 15-member all-party Parliamentary Committee (to review flag designs). There was a mix of English and French speaking men, as well as 1 woman. There were 7 Liberals, 5 Progressive Conservatives, 1 New Democrat, 1 Social Credit, and 1 Créditiste.

Over the next four weeks, the Committee looked at more than 2,000 designs, including many submitted by the citizens. Check out some of those designs below.

On October 22nd, after a long debate, all of the members voted for a different version of Pearson’s proposed flag, with a red background and a maple leaf on a white square in the middle.

Pearson showing a revised version of his original flag design

With a few minor alterations, the final version of the design, which had been submitted to Cabinet, was approved.

On December 15 1964, after a speech by Pearson, Parliament approved the new flag in a vote, with 163 MPs voting in favour of the new flag and 78 voting against it. This vote happened even though the former Prime Minister, John Diefenbaker, did not like the new flag design.

The approval of Canada's new flag

On January 28, 1965, the Queen signed the Royal Proclamation giving Canada a national flag. On February 15, 1965, an official flag-raising ceremony was held on Parliament Hill, and Canada’s new national flag was flown for the first time.

The Royal Proclamation signed by the Queen

Canada now had a brand new flag, with a great design that allowed the whole country to be represented.